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Papers by Evelyne Berger (Pochon)

Tema «Je crois la recherche elle est là pour ça, en fait. Pour donner des idées, pour qu'on se re... more Tema «Je crois la recherche elle est là pour ça, en fait. Pour donner des idées, pour qu'on se remette en question et qu'on se pose des questions sur son enseignement, sur sa méthodologie, pour qu'on évolue là-dedans. Mais c'est une sorte de dialectique pour moi. La recherche elle dit quelque chose, pis on essaie si ça marche, on regarde. […] Il devrait y avoir un peu plus d'échanges [entre la pratique et la recherche], à mon avis.» (J.M., enseignante au lycée)

Le présent article se propose d'adopter une approche micro-analytique basée sur des enregistremen... more Le présent article se propose d'adopter une approche micro-analytique basée sur des enregistrements vidéo pour étudier les différents cadres de participation émergeant en classe et de dégager la complexité de leur dynamique multimodale, en faisant émerger la manière dont des discours appartenant à différentes sphères de légitimation émergent, s’influencent et se croisent (cf. Mondada, 2003). Il prend plus spécifiquement
pour objet central les moments d'émergence et de transition entre cadres de participation pour montrer, au
moyen d'une analyse prenant en compte aussi bien les éléments proprement linguistiques que les gestes, regards et orientations corporelles, comment ces moments sont négociés
et construits localement par les participants de manière collaborative. Ces analyses permettront à leur tour de réfléchir au potentiel de ces
moments de transition tant pour la co-construction des contenus disciplinaires que pour la mise en œuvre et la pratique de ressources complexes sur le plan interactionnel.

This article examines a recurrent phenomenon in sign language interaction: the freezing of a sign... more This article examines a recurrent phenomenon in sign language interaction: the freezing of a sign, called a ‘hold’, in turn-final position. This phenomenon is traditionally described as a prosodic feature that contributes to the rhythm of signed talk and to the marking of syntactic boundaries, hence not adding any propositional content on its own. A detailed observation of these holds in naturally occurring conversational data, however, raises the following questions: What is the relevance of such holds in the management of turn-taking? What meaningful social action do they accomplish? Based on 90 min of video-recordings of Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) interaction within an institutional setting, we undertake micro-sequential and multimodal analyses yielding the following findings (1) turnfinal
holds occur recurrently in turns that set a strong action projection (e.g. questions), (2) they embody the current speaker’s expectations regarding next actions; and therefore (3) their release is finely tuned to the recognizability of the relevant and expected next action in progress.

Reading is traditionally considered to be an individual activity related to a written text. In th... more Reading is traditionally considered to be an individual activity related to a written text. In the present study, we will look at a particular type of reading as collective activity: map-reading in peer-group interactions in a French Foreign language classroom. Drawing from ethnomethodologically oriented
Conversation Analysis and vygotskian Sociocultural Theory, the analyses focus on the multimodal organization of map-reading in order to show a) how map-reading is organized on a multimodal level as a collective action; b) how the map constitutes both a material and a conceptual space for joint
action and shared cognition; and c) how talk-in-interaction hinges on this collectively organized activity of map-reading.

Recent studies – emanating from a socio-interactionist perspective on second language acquisition... more Recent studies – emanating from a socio-interactionist perspective on second language acquisition – interested in classroom interactions have highlighted the situated nature
of tasks. These studies have shown how tasks only give a general framework – goaloriented – in which some communicative event has to take place. However, all participants locally and jointly construct the effective accomplishment of the task. Following that line of research, this paper explores how talk-in-interaction is shaped by participants’ initial understanding of the task instruction on the basis of a comparison of two groups of intermediate French L2 learners engaged in an identical task. The examples show that the talk-in-interaction unfolds very differently: while one group engages in an interview-like interaction, the other group undertakes a collective writing activity. Implications of these findings for second language pedagogy such as task design and
evaluation of the learners’ performances will be discussed.

This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcos... more This paper presents an investigation of disagreement sequences understood as an actional microcosm that allows us to zoom in onto the development of interactional competence. An analysis of interactional data from French L1 classrooms in French speaking Switzerland is presented, emanating from two levels of schooling (lower and upper secondary). The analysis (a) identifies a series of observables relating to interactional competence, (b) opens a window onto aspects of its development across time and (c) sheds light on the communicative cultures at work in the two school contexts.

This paper examines Conversation Analysis as applied to the field of Second Language Acquisition ... more This paper examines Conversation Analysis as applied to the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). The epistemological framework of CA is first presented and then exemplified through the study of disagreements accomplished by lower intermediate level learners of French L2. Micro-sequential analyses are carried out on a corpus of classroom interactions. The analyses shed new light on practices which have been the focus of previous studies in SLA. The analyses show how learners manage to finely tune their disagreement to the local circumstances by means of diverse resources (e.g. sequential, prosodic), while at the linguistic level, the disagreements appear direct and explicit (essentially turn-initial "no") – which has been interpreted in earlier research as an indicator of limited competence in the L2. On the basis of these results, we discuss specific contributions of Conversation Analysis to SLA research, as well as its limits with regards to other socially oriented approaches to SLA.

Recent studies applying Conversation Analysis to classroom interaction have described language le... more Recent studies applying Conversation Analysis to classroom interaction have described language learning tasks as a local and collective accomplishment (e.g. Hellermann & Pekarek Doehler, 2010; Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004; Mori, 2002). They highlight the gap that may exist between the intended purpose as materialized in task instruction and the actual performance of the task. Following this line of research, this paper investigates the relationship between task instruction, pre-task planning and task completion. Based on a corpus of French as a Foreign Language classroom interactions, we observe how six different groups that have received identical instructions organize and carry out the task. In a first analytical step, we show how the students engage in interactionally organized interpretative work regarding the task, and in organizing the distribution of roles and responsibilities for the task accomplishment. In a second step, we identify how participants orient to this initial distribution within the very course of accomplishing the task. Based on a sequential micro analysis of participants’ conduct while planning and accomplishing the task, we show how Conversation Analysis contributes to a better understanding of language learning tasks from a participant-relevant perspective.

This paper presents an exploratory longitudinal study on how an adolescent speaker of French L2 m... more This paper presents an exploratory longitudinal study on how an adolescent speaker of French L2 manages word searches as part of auto-initiated other-repair. We followed Julie, a German-speaking au pair girl sojourning in a French-speaking environment, for 9 months. Based on the analysis of audio recorded and transcribed everyday conversations, we track how Julie’s ‘methods’ for initiating word searches and calling for co-participant’s help change across the duration of her stay. Results show a shift from the use of ‘heavy’ resources that suspend the ongoing activities and focus explicitly on lexical issues towards the use of more subtle resources that maximize the progressivity of talk while still allowing the speaker to overcome lexical problems. It is argued that these changes are indicative of the development of L2 interactional competence.

It is a well known fact that L2 learners encounter a variety of difficulties when participating i... more It is a well known fact that L2 learners encounter a variety of difficulties when participating in dynamic verbal exchanges in L2. Especially launching their turn in time, while dealing with formulation issues, proves to be difficult. Not only do they have to identify the precise moment for taking a turn, they also have to establish coherence with previous talk. This article focuses on other-repetition as interactional resource used by intermediate L2 learners in order to organize their turns-at-talk. On the basis of French L2 data and following a micro-analytical approach, two functions of other-repetition in L2 interactions will be illustrated: 1) as a turn expansion device and 2) as a turn entry device. The corpus consists of videotaped peer-group interactions within French L2 classroom setting.